Due to population growth in Khartoum and the parallel increasing anthropogenic activities, water pollution is increasing over time and facing an increasing problem (Ali, 1999). Polluted effluents discharged to the water system derive from several sources. One of the major sources is the disposal of untreated or semi-treated domestic effluents into water bodies. Excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides is another major source of water pollution despite the success in considerable reduction of the use of agro-chemicals during the past decade. Additionally, many of the industrial establishments do not comply with the law, which means that they dump their wastewater untreated into surface water bodies as well as inject it into groundwater. 

There are many factories in the city of Khartoum that have impacts directly or indirectly on the River Nile, such as clay pits, i.e. industries for manufacture of building blocks, spread along the bank of the Blue Nile for more than 50 kilometres. The clay pits produce a lot of carbon dioxide generated from combustion of mud and outputs. 

Another source of pollutants is the use of chlorine gas, i.e disinfection of water and bleaching processes. The chlorine gas is soluble in water due to the formation of a mixture of hypochlorous acid and hydrochloric acid, according to: 

Cl₂ + H₂O = HOCl + HCl 

The hydrochloric acid is completely dissolved in water to chloride and a proton, of which the latter contribute to water?s acidity. Also, the chlorine compounds are effective chlorinators of natural organic matter present in the water and carcinogenic trihalomethanes and organochlorines may be formed (WEF and ASCE, 1991). However, also the residual chlorine is toxic to many kinds of aquatic life (Mattice and Zittel, 1976). The chlorine compounds may cause chronic diarrhea, which is more deployed in areas close to the Blue Nile in Khartoum (UNMIS, 2007),